CCEA approves Rs 17,033 crore for revised ARDRP

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved Rs 17,033 crore for revamping the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP), aimed at cutting commercial and other losses of state utilities.

“Out of the Rs 17,033 crore, the grant component is Rs 6,445 crore and the loan component is Rs 2,274 crore,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the CCEA meeting. He added that loans under the APDRP will be only be given to utilties under various conditions.

The government has mandated that utilities will have to bring down aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) losses in and around a project to below 15 per cent, whereas in the utility area, which is a larger area, they have to bring them down by 3 per cent or 1.5 per cent depending upon on the location. If the utilities achieve these parametres, 50 per cent of loans they take will be converted to grants, Chidambaram said. Companies do not have to repay the grant amount to the government, but have to repay the loan amount.

The scheme also seeks to bring commercial viability in the power sector and reduce outages and interruptions. Under the scheme, the government provides 50 per cent central assistance for strengthening and upgrade of sub-transmission and distribution network. According to the power ministry, overall AT&C losses are around 35 per cent against about 39 per cent in 2001-02.

For the sanctioning of projects and monitoring the implementation of the revised scheme, a steering committee has been constituted under the secretary in the Ministry of Power.

Power Finance Corporation has been identified as the nodal agency to operationalise the revised programme of the scheme.